STRINGDUSTERS STRANDED?

THE INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS - 6/8/10 Anglada’s Dance Hall, Taos, NM

Set List:

Fork in the Road
In God’s Country (U2 cover)
Gettin’ Down the Road
Likes of Me (Tony Rice cover)
Loved in Vain
Steam-Powered Aeorplane (John Hartford cover)
Black Rock (instrumental)
Get It While You Can
You Can’t Stop the Changes
You Can’t Handle the Truth
Deep Elem Blues (traditional)
High On a Mountain Top (Del McCoury cover)
Magic #9 (instrumental)
Well, Well
It’ll Be Alright
Home of the Red Fox (traditional, instrumental)
Uncle Pen (Bill Monroe cover)
Moon Man (instrumental)

E: (acoustic)

Blue Night (Kirk McGee cover)

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Thanks to soundman extraordinaire Drew Becker for helping me decipher the set list shorthand. I hear their van broke down between Reno and Cali! That’s a terrible place to be stranded, as you may know. Send ‘em your good vibes (or a working passenger van) and hopefully they’ll be back in action soon. LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

(^_^) TOAST

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TnJ 124 (6/17/10)

-HOUR ONE-

KARL DENSON’S TINY UNIVERSE – Expressions (2009 Brother’s Keeper) karldenson.com
GREYBOY ALLSTARS – Old School Cylons (2007 What Happened to Television?) greyboyallstars.com
THE ORIGINAL WAILERS – Who the Cap Fit (1998 Reggae on the Rocks – Live & Direct Vol. 2, c.1997)
TODD SNIDER – America’s Favforite Pastime (2009 the Excitement Plan) toddsnider.net
GREAT AMERICAN TAXI – Cold Lonely Town (2010 Reckless Habits) greatamericantaxi.com
CHERRYHOLMES – Weaver of Lies (2010 Cherryholmes IV – Common Threads) cherryholmes.com
CARRIE RODRIGUEZ – I Made a Lover’s Prayer (2010 Love and Circumstance) carrierodriguez.com
JASON ISBELL and the 400 UNIT – Streetlights (2008 Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit) jasonisbell.com
OAKHURST – Close Your Eyes (2008 Jump in the Get Down) porchmusic.com

-HOUR TWO-

INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS – Midnight Moonlight (8/8/09 Dead by the Creek Festival, Laytonville, CA)
CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS – Snowden’s Jig (Genuine Negro Jig) (2010 Genuine Negro Jig)
DAVE RAWLINGS MACHINE – Sweet Tooth (2009 A Friend of a Friend)
YONDER MOUNTAIN STRING BAND – Dreams (2009 the Show) yondermountain.com
FURTHUR – Help On the Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower (3/3/10 Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL) further.net

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NEXT WEEK - Toast needs to hit the road and see a few shows, so KBAC Program Director Ira Gordon steps in with (what else?) an all-Springsteen bootleg edition of Toast-n-Jam (^_^) Enjoy!

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NEW MEXICO'S RYAN McGARVEY GETS NOD from CLAPTON FESTIVAL

Congratulations to Albuquerque's Ryan McGarvey - he'll be rubbing elbows and swapping licks with some of his idols, no doubt, at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago, June 26, 2010 (^_^)

Knock 'em dead, sir!

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THIRSTY EAR FESTIVAL 2010

SAM BUSH BAND – 6/12/10 Thirsty Ear Festival, Santa Fe, NM

Set List:

Uncle Pen (Bill Monroe cover)
Puppies N’Knapsacks (instrumental)
Mahavishnu Mountain Boys (instrumental)
Eight More Miles to Louisville (Louis M. “Grandpa” Jones cover)
Ridin’ That Bluegrass Train (traditional)
Whisper My Name
Circles Around Me
Out on the Ocean
The Ballad of Stringbean & Estelle
Blue Mountain (instrumental)
Same Ol’ River
Howlin’ at the Moon
Bringin’ in the Georgia Mail (Flatt & Scruggs cover)

Encore:

One Love * (Bob Marley cover)
Up on Cripple Creek > Goin’up Cripple Creek * (The Band cover > Lester Flatts & the Nashville Grass cover)

Lineup: Sam Bush Band: Sam Bush, Todd Parks, Chris Brown, Scott Vestal, Stephen Mougin, guest (*) Johnny Burns

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Or, as I’ll refer to it for years – the Dusty Ear Festival (^_^)

I like that Santa Fe’s the kind of place where I can show up late in the day to a festival with work clothes still on (i.e. cowboy boots and hat) and feel neither out of place nor that others are constantly staring at me. Of course, the Dusty… er, Thirsty Ear Festival was being held – for one final time – at the Eaves Movie Ranch. You know those movies and TV shows they occasionally make, called Westerns? Apparently this is one of the places they make those. I went to a ghost town once in my Idaho childhood (although, how much of a “ghost town” could it have been, when tourists paid money to view it?) that was very much like this – only less dusty.

The bizarre thing about western movie towns (of which the Santa Fe area boasts at least three) is, much like Hollywood and most of their product, they are very nearly 2-dimensional. Well, not in the scientific sense, of course, but in that only the outer front (or façade) is wholly convincing. The innards of all the buildings are mostly empty and void of furniture, or even paint. It looks great in pictures but can haunt you with a pinprick of suspicion that maybe you’re just as hollow on the inside.

Luckily, there was plenty of good vibes and great music filling, almost literally, every minute of 2 full days, and that made my insides swell with a happiness that proved I wasn’t merely a worker drone after all. Maybe that’s why people flock to hear this kind of, well, antiquated music – it reminds them that they are still human beings.

Darrell Scott was a much-anticipated treat for me to see live. I got wind of him around 2004 (with the stellar “Live in NC” album), but so far hadn’t managed to catch him in the act. Though he played almost his entire hour-long set solo on an acoustic guitar (occasionally joined by Bob Hemminger of Pagosa Springs, CO, as noted below), his songs carry such lyrical weight, emotional resonance, and sure-fire melody, I felt like I had just read a very satisfying novel. Almost all of the songs were from his new album, which I’ve not yet heard, yet I still felt wrapped in them like a threadbare heirloom quilt, familiar, tattered, and loved.

Catching a glimpse of Allison Russell, the statuesque and stupefyingly beautiful darker half of the duo Po’Girl “in the wings” was almost enough to distract me from my trance – almost. Scott sings with the words of a cowboy poet, but his musings are far darker – almost too bleak to find purchase within the constraints of a typical “Nashville” production. If he’s determined to sing songs that way, especially in Nashville, I hope he’s prepared to live within humble means. I also hope he keeps it coming, because music needs a voice like his.

Read more about the Thirsty Ear Festival on Steve Terrell’s music blog – he’s a much better blogger than me anyway, and has more pictures (and better pictures – stupid “free” phones). I just wanted to try and capture proof that Sam Bush was wearing an Albuquerque Isotopes t-shirt, because I’m not sure even I would’ve believed me on that one.

A few notes I jotted down during Sam Bush’s Saturday-closing set: apparently, “Stringbean” was a banjo player for Bill Monroe who was, in fact, killed for the money he was known to keep in his bib overalls, just like the song says; “Blue Mountain” is named for a 150-foot-high hill in Florida where Sam Bush once rented a bicycle and realized, shortly thereafter, the extent of his age; he swapped out mention of “Spike Jones” during “Up On Cripple Creek” for living bluegrass legend “Del McCoury;” and I need to get some New Grass Revival recordings – any recommendations?

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DARRELL SCOTT – 6/13/10 Thirsty Ear Festival, Santa Fe, NM

Set List:

Miracle of Living
The Dreamer
A Crooked Road
The Day before Thanksgiving
Long Wide Open Road
The Man Who Could Have Played Bass for Shanana *
It’s the Whiskey That Eases the Pain *
Love’s Not Through with Me Yet
River Take Me *

* indicates guest Bob Hemminger on tenor sax

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TnJ 123 (6/10/10)

-HOUR ONE-

GRATEFUL DREAD – I Know You Rider (2010 The Grateful Dread Live) thegratefuldread.com
DARRELL SCOTT/DANNY THOMPSON/KENNY MALONE – Miracle of Living (2005 Live in NC, c. 2003) darrellscott.com
PO’ GIRL – Deer in the Night (2009 Deer in the Night) pogirl.net
SAM BUSH BAND – Mr. Freddy (12/31/03 Boulder Theater, Boulder, CO) sambush.com
GOGOL BORDELLO – Trans-Continental Hustle (2010 Trans-Continental Hustle) gogolbordello.com
30db – One More (2010 One Man Show) 30db.net

-HOUR TWO-

GRACE POTTER & the NOCTURNALS – Paris (Ooh La La) gracepotter.com
JASON ISBELL and the 400 UNIT – Good (2008 Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit) jasonisbell.com
KARL DENSON – Sunday School (1997 the D Stands for Diesel) karldenson.us
TEA LEAF GREEN – Dreaming Without Sleeping (2010 Looking West) tealeafgreen.com
OAKHURST – Run Run Run (2008 Jump in the Get Down) porchmusic.com
SOL DRIVEN TRAIN – Believe (2010 Believe) homegrownmusic.net
TOMO FUJITA – That Girl (2010 Pure) tomofujita.com
THE REVEREND PEYTON’S BIG DAMN BAND – Everything’s Raising (2010 the Wages) bigdamnband.com
JIM LAUDERDALE – Jawbone (2010 Patchwork River) jimlauderdale.com
RatDog – Samson & Delilah (9/15/02 Telluride Blues & Brews Festival, Telluride, CO) ratdog.org

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TnJ 122 (6/3/10)

-HOUR ONE-

moe. – St. Augustine (1994 Headseed, 2010 Smash Hits Volume One) moe.org
G. LOVE & SPECIAL SAUCE – Lay Down the Law (1997 Yeah, It’s That Easy)
DR. DOG – The Unicorn (2010 Twistable Turnable Man – a Musical Tribute to the Songs of Shel Silverstein)
THE BELLEVILLE OUTFIT – Safe (2009 Time to Stand) thebellevilleoutfit.com
INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS – Moon Man (4/15/08 Fox Theatre, Boulder, CO)
INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS – Those Who’ve Gone On (2010 Things That Fly) infamousstringdusters.com
LEFTOVER SALMON w/ DAVID GRISMAN – Ain’t No Use (1/29/03 McNear’s Mystic Theatre, Petaluma, CA)

-HOUR TWO-

MEDESKI, MARTIN and WOOD – Amish Pintxos (2009 Radiolarians – the Evolutionary Set, “Explorarians” live album, c. 2008-09) mmw.net
JOHN BUTLER TRIO – Pickapart (2006 Live at St. Gallen, c. 2005)
FUTURE ROCK – Blink (2010 Live in Wicker Park) homegrownmusic.net
SUN TRAVELLERS – Skywalker (2010 Excursions) suntravellers.com
GOV’T MULE w/ ROB BARRACO, DAVE SCHOOLS, KEVIN KINNEY & AUDLEY FREED – Masters of War > Rockin’ in the Free World (2001/2010 Warren Haynes presents – the Benefit Concert, Vol. 3) evilteen.com
WIDESPREAD PANIC – St. Louis > Shut Up and Drive (2010 Dirty Side Down)

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